THese dayes of Purim or of Lots mētioned in the ninth chapter of the booke of Ester were the four­teenth and the fif­teenth dayes of the moneth Adar answe­ring in parte to our February inioyned to be kept Festiuall of the [Page 4] Iewes, first by Mordecayes letter, and then by Queene Esters decree in remēbrance of there wonderfull deliuerance from Hamans bloudy designe for their vtter extirpatiō at that time.

These daies (the like being scarcely to be found againe in holy Scripture) I purpose to compare with our day of the Powder plott, together with the Authority, the Causes and Reasons of the institution of both, that from thence it may appeare that the mercy of God was more cleerely manifested in our Deliue­rance then in theirs, and that consequently we haue greater cause religiously & with thank­full acknowledgement to obserue our day then they theires. In the opening whereof I will compare plott with plott, persons with per­sons, motiue with motiue, assurance With assu­rance, preuention with preuention, issue with issue, moneth with moneth, day with day.

First then for Hamans plot vpon the Iewes, itPlot. was vndoubtedly a very cruel one, thinking it too little, too small a satisfaction to hishonor & reuenge, to lay hands vpon Mordecai, he purposed in one day to haue put them all to the sword (as the Sicilians did the French in [Page 5] one night) young and old, women and chil­dren, without distinction of age or sexe, throughout all the large dominions of Ahaf­huerosh, reaching from India to Ethiopia, and comprising an hundred & 7 & twenty Prouin­ces; yet putting to the sword is not so cruell as blowing vp with powder, in as much as in the former some hope is left by teares or prayers, or guifts to staie the executioners hand; but in the latter none at all. For as men are presumed to haue more mercie then beasts, and beasts then insensible Creatures, Which are altogether inexorable: so among them all, the two elements of fire and water haue the least mercy, and of the two, fire (specially if it be enraged with store of pow­der) least of all.

Againe Hamans project vpon the Iewes was not so suddainly to be acted but that they had leasure giuen them to appease the fury of their Aduersary, or to procure the Kings fauour, as afterwards they did; they had oportunity to stand for their liues, or to saue themselues by flight, or if it came to the worst, they had respite to cast [Page 6] vp their accounts and make all things leuell betweene God and their owne Consciences: But this proiect of our conspiratours should haue beene acted in a moment, in the tourne of an hand, in the twinckling of an eye, the parties aimed at should neither haue had time to flie nor to fight, to intreat nor to threa­ten, to let fall a teare or castvp a sigh for their sinnes, or so much as to say or to thinke in manus tuas Domine. The cruelty of Haman then extended onely to mens bodies, but this of our Conspiratours to their soules, they held the maine body of that assembly to be here­ticall, and that for an heretique so depart­ing this life there is no possibility of salvati­on, and consequently they could not but make account to send all so affected quicke to hell. And for the bodyes of the Iewes though after the shedding of their bloud & the loosing of their liues they could not haue promised to themselues any decent kind of buriall, yet was their case better then to bee torne in a thousand peeces, and to haue the shiuers of their bones, the sprinkling of their bloud, and gobbets of their flesh (if [Page 7] any such remained) to be cast into far distant places, and exposed as a prey to dogs and ra­uens. Besides, the cruelty of Haman extended not to insensible creatures, as this did, to the vtter demolishing of that famous Senate house, in which the Ancestors of the Conspiratours themselues had often met to consult about the making of whol­some lawes for the suppressing of vice and the advancing of the honour of the Eng­lish name. We count it but madnesse in a dog to snarle at a stone, and can we count it lesse in men to fight with stones and timber? Sure­ly if wee should haue held our peace, these verie beames & stones would haue cried for vengeance, and the rather being to haue bin stained with the bloud of so many right no­ble and worthy personages, which is the se­cond point of Comparison.

The Iewes though at that time the ChurchPersons of God was in a manner impaled within their nation, yet liued they but as strangers; nay as vassals & Captiues among the Persians, as at this day for the greatest part they doe, aswell among the Turkes as the Christians. It [Page 8] was true, though by Haman malitiously vr­ged, that their lawes were diuers from all people, neither did they obserue the Kings lawes. Haman himselfe the chiefe plotter a­gainst them was not onely an Infidel, but an Amalakite a mortall enemy to their religion, and moreouer being of great place and com­mand, he had gotten both the King and the whole state to countenance his designe a­gainst them. But in this of our Conspiratours the case vvas contrary; There, Pagans and In­fidels, Persians & Amalakites conspired against the Israelites: heere natiue English & professed Christians, (though in truth most vnvvorthy the name of either) conspired against their ovvne Countreymen baptized, and reioyc­ing in the glorious name of Jesus Christ, nay I make no doubt but that some of their ovvne neere kinsmen, and of their ovvne ro­mish profession at leastvvise in heart and af­fection should for company haue perished by that blovve: There, superiours & those of Eminent note and ranke conspired against their inferiours and those of the lovvest and meanest degree in that state: Here inferiours [Page 9] against their superiours, subiects against their liege Lord and lawfull Soueraigne, seruants against their masters, for so was one of them at least, and that in honourable place, and as if it had beene too little to lay hands vpon the King alone, they all conspired against that venerable Court, the highest in the Land, consisting of their lawfull and compe­tent Iudges, the murthering of the least of which in that place being legally called thi­ther by his Maiesties writ, iudicially there to sitt, had beene treason, which is the highest offence the law takes notice of: What then could wee haue called that act, by which they should haue beene all murthe­red and mangled at one clap? Surely as wee want an example to paralell it, so doe wee a name to expresse it. Touch not mine annoin­ted saith God: but these intended to haue blowne vp at one blast the King & Queene, both annointed with sacred oile, toge­ther with their eldest sonne the Prince then liuing, and with them the great Officers of the kingdome, the prudent Counsellours of Estate, the Honorable Peeres of the Realme, [Page 10] the Reuerend Bishops, the Graue Iudges and Sages of the law, the choyce Knights and Burgesses being indeede the very flower of the land, all the Clarkes of the Crowne, Counsell, Signet, and Seales, the greatest part of the learned Lawyers, together With a number of the Kings and Queenes & Prin­ces neerest and deerest seruants. I will doe a thing in Israel saith God, that whosoeuer shall heare, it shall make both his eares to tingle: but surely the very relation of this, had it taken effect, had beene enough not only to make a mans haire stand an end, & his eares to tingle, but his very heart to quake and tremble: and I am perswaded as no Histori­an euer wrote, or Poet faind, or Painter coun­terfeited, or Tragedian acted the like: so if all the damned Spirits of hell, and the dam­ned Crew on the earth should ioyne in coun­cell, and sett the vtmost of their wits aworke, they could neuer find out the like cursed di­vice againe. It was the vtmost point of all villanie, beyond which is Terra incognita, no man can diuise what should bee betweene hell and it, and looke by how much the [Page 11] more diuelish was the inuention, by so much more diuine, was the Preseruation. It were then worth the inquiring what should moue these men to so brutish and barbarous a plott which is my third point of Comparison. The Motiues.

That which Haman pretended against theMotiues. Iewes was that they were not subiect to the Kings Lawes, neither was it for the Kings honour or profit to suffer them in his domi­nions: but intruth that which stuck in his stomake was Mordecaies stiffenes, he would not creepe and crooch vnto him as others did, and as the King had commanded, they should, he would not prostrate himselfe be­fore that Idoll of Court, and giue him diuine adoration, the thing as it seemes which Ha­man in the pride of his heart expected, and Mordecai denied, for I cannot beleeue that he denied ciuill reuerence; and was not this the motiue of our Conspiratours that wee would not bow to their Idolls, their triple crowned Idoll of Rome and their breadden Idoll in the consecrated host, pretending that it was not for the profitt nor the honour of the Ca­tholique [Page 12] Church any longer to suffer vs: but was this the meanes by which Christ founded and his Apostles reared vp, & their successours inlarged & repaired his Church? no, no, they founded and built, and inlarged and repaired it with the powring out of their owne bloud not with the shedding of o­thers.

‘Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?’

What is it possible that Catholiques the best Christians nay the onely Christians should conceaue such a sauage enterprise? Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum? Is it cre­dible that matter of religion should induce men to so damnable an attempt? It was the speech of Lucretius the Epicure touching Aga­memnon induring and assisting at his daugh­ters sacrifice▪ but what if he had knowne the Massacre of France, or the powder plott of England? Surely it would haue made him tentymes more Epicure & Atheist then hee was: There is not such a sinne against the person of the Holy Ghost, to take it litterally, as insteed of the likenesse of a doue, to bring him downe in the shape of a rauen or a vul­tur [Page 13] nor such a scandall against their Church as out of the barke of S Peter to sett forth a flagg of Pyrats & Assasines: euen those of Cali­cutt who adore the Diuell, neuer held it law­full for quarrell of religion to enter into such mischieuous consultations; and although particular men of all professions haue beene some theeues, some murtherers, some tray­tours, yet euer when they come to their end and iust punishment, they confessed their fault to be in their owne corrupt nature, and not in their profession, these Romish Catho­liques onely excepted. But if this be religion then let hell be heauen, and let the depth of villanie be the height of piety, if this be ho­lines let Nero who set Rome on fire to see how Troy burnt, and Caligula who wished all the men i [...]it had had but one necke that so hee might strike it off at one blow, let them I say be sett in the Callander of Saints, let murthe­rers be registred for martyrs, Cōspirators for confessours, & treason march in the ranke of Christian vertues, and be counted the fairest and shortest cutt to a crowne of immortality. Cursed be their wrath, for it was fierce, and [Page 14] their rage for it was cruell: & the more fierce no doubt because it tooke not hold of fancy but of conscience: the former being like a fire in straw which though it cause a great blaze at the first kindling, yet is it quickly spent, & onely the smoke remaines, but the latter like fire in steele quód tardè acquisiuit, diu retinet, though it be long before it conceaue fire, yet hauing once conceaued it, it retaines it long, and the markes of it are lasting monuments, specially if to conscience in religion be ad­ded confidence in execution which is my next point of Comparison, Assurance with assurance,

Hamans assurance was great, he reliedAssurance. much vpon the strength of his owne witt & his wealth, two powerfull meanes for the ef­fectuating of great attempts. His witt hee v­sed in setting a faire pretence vpō the busines before the King▪ his wealth in offering to pay to the Kings coffers ten thousand tallents of silver, he was so deepely rooted in the Kings fauour, that his offer was returned, and yet his request passed, his wisards were consul­ted with, the Lott by them was cast befor [...] [Page 15] him, and by it a luckie day found out for the acting of the Tragedie. Letters were writ­ten in the Kings name and sealed with the Kings ring, which kind of mandates were held as irreuocable as lawes, by the Medes and Persians. They were deliuered to the Posts or Curriers, and by them to the go­uernours of the seuerall Prouince, and after this Haman was so familiar with the King, as they two were seene drinking hand to hand. Here were all things now so fast, so sure, as a man would haue thought there had beene no meanes possible left to vndoe them, there seemed to want nothing but the very execu­tion of the plott. The like assurance, if not greater, was there in our Powder plotters, they relied too vpon their wit, and vpon the wealth and strength of their faction both at home and abroad. Some of them offering horses and armour, others to contribute mo­ney, to the summe of two thousand or three thousand pound a peece. Neere about the time when the deadly blow should haue beene giuen, were their prayers and processi­ons made throw Christendome by these of [Page 16] that profession for the prospering of some great enterprise then a foot, for the good of the Catholique cause. Their side here at home was at the same time very daring & insolent, as looking out for the neere approach, of some suddaine and great change in the state, and I can neuer beleeue that they entred vpon such a businesse without the benedicti­on of the Balaam of Rome. Once we are sure they had consulted with their Wisards the Ie­suites, well practised in figure flinging too, if they be not belied. These by their skill had allotted out a day for the fortunate deliuery of that monsterous birth, by these were the actors born in hād, that the fact was not only lawfull but religious and meritorious: And as Haman gott the Kings letters for the de­struction of the Iewes▪ so had one of them gotten his holinesse Briefes, though at last, supposing they would come to an ill market, he made no vse of them, but sacrificed them to Vulcan. Besides these our Conspiratours had bound themselues with a strict and so­lemne oath by the sacred Trinity and the Sa­crament (to thē the strongest obligation) not [Page 17] to disclose the proiect by word or Circum­stance, directly or indirectly, nor to desist from the prosecution of it till they had effe­cted it, or leaue were granted them from their Confederates. Lastly, they had Wrought the Mine, and when that would not serue the turne they had hired a sellar, the powder was laid in to the quantity of thirty sixe bar­rells, great barrs of iron and massy stones, and billets being layd on the topp of the bar­rells, thereby to make the noise more hide­ous, and the breachthe more dangerous, the day of execution was now come, the howre approched, the match was ready, so that no­thing was wāting but the presence of that Ve­nerable assembly, and the setting of fire to the powder. But then, euen then, that great God of heauen and earth, who commands all things therein & they obey, who setts boūds and barrs to the raging waues of the Sea, & saith vnto them; hitherto shall yee goe and no farther stopped the course of these bloo­dy proiectors, and stayed their hands, as he did the hand of Ahraham, when it was now lifted vp for the sacrificing of his son; Which [Page 18] that it was his doeing, and his alone, will ma­nifestly appeare in the discouery and preuen­tion of the plott, which is my next point of Comparison.

For Hamans plott, there needed no disco­uery,Preuention. it was not carried so close, but that Mor­decay had gotten a copy of the Kings letters, and sent them to Ester, which in truth was no hard matter to doe, considering the decree was publiquely made knowne by procla­mation through the Provinces: but in the preuention of it, and the working of their peace by turning the Kings heart towards them and against Haman, therein the finger of God cleerely appeared. For howbeit in the effecting thereof much was to be ascri­bed to the watchfullnes and wisdome of Mordecai, and no lesse to the care and indu­stry of Ester, yet if we deuly obserue the ad­mirable concurrence of Causes ordained & falling in together for the composing of it we shall find, that vndoubtedly God was therein the principall agent. As first in Vash­taies remouall, and Esters succeeding in her roome, when shee poore wench of obscure [Page 19] parentage and a Iewish by nation had small reason to dreame of a Crowne: Then in Mor­decaies discouery of a foule conspiracy a­gainst the person of the King: Then in the Kings calling for the Chronicles when he wanted sleepe and in falling vpon that place wherein Mordecaies discouery was recorded, and lastly in making Haman, who was then comming in to begg Mordecaies life, a chiefe instrument in his reward and ad­vancement for that seruice; & by this meanes were the Kings letters reuersed and contrary written, The same hand which had signed a decree in the opinion both of them that granted, and of them that procured it irrevo­cable, became the buckler of their preserua­tion, that no one haire of their heads might be touched. All which considered, might they not iustly cry out with Pharaohs magici­cians, digitus Dei est hic, the finger of God is here; yet surely was Gods speciall prouidence more apparantly manifested in the discoue­ry and preuention of our powder plott.

Curse not the King, saith Salòmon, no not in thy thought, for that which hath wings shall [Page 20] declare the matter. It was a quill, a peece of a wing that reuealed it, till when not a feather sprang to giue any suspition A quill sett a worke no doubt by one of those that had bound themselues to secrecy by the oath be­fore mentioned, one, who had he presumed it would haue taken that effect, would ra­ther haue bitten off those fingers that vsed it: but he was perswaded (no doubt) that either the letter should neuer come to light, or if it did, it was so darkly penned that the reader should gather nothing but confused genera­lities from it. And herein was the constru­ction thereof made by his Maiesty not a lit­tle strange, as himselfe to the honour of God opēly confessed, that holding suspition to be the sicknesse of a tyrant, and being for the most so bent vpon the other extreame, as hee rather contemned all other advertisements and apprehentions of practises then any way entertained them, he at this time was so farr contrary to himselfe, as vpon the first view of the letter he did presently interpret some ob­scure phrases therein, contrary to the ordi­nary Grammar construction of them, to be [Page 21] meant of that horrible forme of blowing vp that sacred assembly with powder; whereas had he construed those ambiguous words to any other danger, no earthly prouision could haue preuented their vtter destruction. Now lay all these together, and then tell me, whe­ther wee haue not as great reason as those Iewes, to confesse and professe, digitus Dei est hic, the finger of God is here: And yet is there one very remarkable Circumstance be­hind, to note out Gods miraculous preuentiō of the mischiefe, and deliuerance of vs from the danger which hung ouer our heades a­boue and beyond that of the Iewes. God vn­twisted as it were the threed of mischiefe spunne against them when they were hum­bled by captiuity, and had also cast them­selues downe by fasting and prayer, & sack­cloth and ashes, as the Niniuites did at the preaching of Ionas: Queene Ester herselfe e­uen in the Kings pallace with her waiting la­dies fasted and prayed three whole daies for the turning of the Kings heart vnto them, & the turning away of that imminent perill (which was threatned) from them. Their [Page 22] humiliation and teares God beheld and ac­cepted, their prayers and supplications hee heard and granted: and yet herein it must be acknowledged that mercy was shewed them. But alas that mercy towards vs farr exceeded this, For the Lord wrought our de­liuerance when we were so farr from sack­cloth and ashes, as we dreamed not of any danger approching; but were rather puffed in pride and wantonnesse, promising to our selues by the entrance of his maiesty and his royall issue a setled continuance of peace, plenty, and prosperity: Euen then when wee were lulled a sleepe in the depth of security, and yet our enormious sinnes were crying a­lowd in his eares for vengeance, and vrging his Iustice to poure downe the full viols of his wrath vpon vs, euen then did the eye of his speciall prouidence and mercy watch o­uer vs, and for vs, and deliuered vs from the very brinke of the graue, from the iawes of death, which had opened her mouth wide to haue swallowed vs vp quicke. Herein God setteth out his loue towards vs, that while wee were yet sinners Christ died for vs, [Page 23] saith the Apostle; & surely herein if euer God shewed the riches of his mercy towards vs, that when wee were in the hight of our sinnes he so wonderously deliuered vs when wee had no will to desire, much lesse meanes to deserue it: And for our enemies, their owne tongues, as the Psalmist speakes, or rather their owne penns made them fall: insomuch as who so considereth [...]t shall laugh them to scorne, and all men that see it shall say, this hath God done; for they shall [...] that it is his worke: But yet much more if we con­sider the issue which is the next point of Cō ­parison; the issue I meane as well in regard of the end of the Conspiratours, as the conse­quences of the Conspiracyes, had they ta­ken effect.

Touching the end of the Conspiratours,End of the conspira­tours. for Haman himselfe wee know he [...] on the same gibbet that he prouided for Morde­cai, as Catesby the first inuenter of the powder treason was scortcht and [...] and likely to haue beene slaine by [...], [...] about the time that they intended the acting of their plott▪ Hamans sonnes went the same way [Page 24] that their Father did before thē, & Garnet the ghostly Father of these powder men went the same way his sonnes had gone before him: The end of them all being a like. Vpon the same day that the innocent bloud of the Iewes should haue beene poured out by their Enimies and the friends of Haman, the Iewes slew of them thorowout Assuerus his domi­nions, and in Susan the Imperiall Citty seuenty sixe thousand; And I haue often wondred that the people of this land vpon the first disco­uery of this damnable Conspiracie, being knowne to be vndertaken wholly by Romish Catholiques, and for the advancement of the Catholique cause, had not violently run vp­on the knowne professors of that religion. But that God restrained both their hearts & their hands that our mercy might remaine as an argument of the goodnesse of our reli­gion, as their Cruelty shall to the Worlds end of the badnesse of theirs. It was a short but a sufficient answere returned by a Professor of ours to one of theires, demaunding what reason he had not to bee of their religion, why, quoth he, because you eate your God [Page 25] and kill your King, And as their cruelty is a sufficient reason to keepe vs from them: so me thinkes, it should worke somewhat, spe­cially this most bloudy and barbarous con­spiracy, to bring them to vs. Wee reade in the last verse of the eight chapter of this booke of Ester, that when the people of the land saw the vnexpected downefall of Haman and his adherents, and the wonderfull deliuerance of the Iewes, many of them became Iewes, that is, made themselues Proselites, conforming themselues to the Iewish religion. And I haue many times not a little marueiled that the manifest detection and knowledge of this foule Conspiracy had not turned the hearts of many Romish Catholiques to our pro­fession: But againe when I call to minde that2 Thes. 2. 10 11. of our Apostle: Because they receaued not the loue of the truth that they might be sa­ued, God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeue lies: I cannot but therein acknowledge the iust iudgement of God in their Wilfull obstinacy.

Now for the consequences of these conspi­racies, had that of Haman taken effect, it [Page 26] would doubtlesse haue beene very grieuious to behold, but worse to feele; the children should haue beene slaine in their Parents sight, & the poore infants haue beene drawn from their mothers breasts and dasht against the stones. It must needs haue giuen a great blow and a deepe wound to the Church of God; yet not so deepe, but the body of the Iewish nation and the life of their religion, & the state of their gouernment would still haue beene preserued: there being at that tyme a great number of that people liuing in their owne countrey of Iudea. But if this of ours had taken effect, Lord, what a maruei­lous confusion must needes haue suddainely followed through out the whole king­dome, both in religion and ciuill gouern­ment, as well in Church as state affaires, what bitter outcries and lamentation, what sheed­ing of teares and wringing of hands in euery quarter of the land? sonnes and daughters mourning for their slaughtered fathers; fa­thers and mothers for their sonnes, brothers and sisters for their brothers, wiues for their husbands, and seruants for their masters: & [Page 27] that such masters, such husbands, such bro­thers, such sonnes, such fathers as were both for nobility in bloud, ability in estate, and sufficiency in wisdome the pict choice men of the land, of whom they could neither take their leaues aliue, nor interr their bodies being dead. It is precisely noted in the [...]ve. of the eighteenth and ninteenth chapters of the booke of Iudges, that in those daies there was no King in Israell, and thereupon follow those abominable outrages there after recorded. What then was our case like to haue beene when wee should haue had neither King, nor Queene, neither Prince (for this present King they intended presently vpon the blow to haue made away) nor great officer of the Kingdome, nor Counsellor of state, nor Bi­shop nor Iudge, what publique exercise of re­ligion, what administration of Iustice could any where haue taken place? what cutting of throats what rifling, what rauishing should wee haue seene in euery corner by rogues & ruffians without any check or controll? Wee should neither haue lyen quietly in our beds, nor haue sate quietly at our tables, nor haue [Page 28] walked quietly in our streets, nor haue tra­uelled quietly in our waies, much lesse haue mett quietly in our temples but euery place would haue beene full of feare and danger and horror and bloud; and surely I am per­swaded that in such a generall confusion of all things, the Cōspirators themselues could not haue promised security to their owne goods and houses, to their owne sonnes and daughters, to their owne wiues and persons, and if this should haue beene our case in the countrey, what would haue beene the face of the Court and Citty wheras the blow should haue beene giuen? How would they haue lookt, what could they haue said or done but stood amazed & at their wits ends. By the hideous thunder and roaring of the blow, by the trembling of the ayre & earth, by the flashing of the fire and the thicke clouds and smoake, by the fall of those anci­ent goodly buildings, by the sight of the dis­membred, and the wofull cry of the brused & wounded, who by the casting of beames & iron and stones afarr of, must needes haue beene many: besides those infinite▪ troupes [Page 29] who waiting there about the returne of that assembly would haue beene either torne or crusht in pieces: nay all the courts of Iustice the Church vsed for the Coronation of our Kings, the monuments of former Princes, the Crowne and scepter and other markes of Royalty, all the records as well of Parlia­ment as of particular mens right with a great number of charters & such like should haue beene snatcht away in that stormy tempest that furious diluge of fire so as not onely we but the memory of vs and ours should haue beene thus extinguished in an instant, worse then if we had beene inuaded or vanquished by the Turke or Scithian. I remember that the heathen Emperor when he beheld the temple of Ierusalem on fire, he could not hold but let fall teares at the sight thereof: and truly I am of opinion that the Conspiratours them­selues had they beheld this monstrous birth of their most vnnaturall deuise, if they were men and not incarnate Deuils or sauage beasts in the shape of men, they would haue sent foorth many a sigh and lett fall many a teare at that wofull▪ spectacle, and for myne [Page 30] owne part I thinke that no true English heart can seriously think, or tongue speake, or hand write of it without some kind of horrour & astonishment, and least my thoughts should be swallowed vp in this dreadfull meditati­on I hasten to the last comparison, of the moneth and the day.

Their moneth was Adar, answering inThe moneth part to our February and in part to March; It was a moneth famous among them for the finishing of the second temple and the dis­cōfitingEzra. 6. of Nicanor: but aboue all for this their admirable deliuerance from the Conspiracy of Haman: And is not this moneth of No­uember 2 Macc. 15 crowned with as many & great bles­sings in it brought vnto vs. In this moneth it was `that that renowned Lady, that heroi­call Ester of incomparable vertue made her entranceto the Crowne and wore it as long with as much honour as euer Prince did. She brought with her the sunn shine of peace & prosperity, and aboue all of the Gospell after almost fiue years cōtinuall showers of teares and bloud during her sisters raigne. In this moneth his sacred maiesty now liuing and [Page 31] by Gods grace long to liue, the ioy of our hearts, the staffe of our hopes, made his en­trance into the world, borne I hope in a hap­py houre for the good of Christendome, and from my heart I pray it may so proue. And lastly, in this moneth God Allmighty wrought for vs this wonderfull deliuerance from the most damnable conspiracy that e­uer the sunne saw, which I may the more boldly auerre for that it being a worke of darknes was wrought so neere hell as the eye of the sunne could not pierce through to dis­cerne it. yet as S. Paul had the messenger of of Satan sent to buffet him, least he should be puft vp with abundance of reuelations: so is the sixt of this moneth as an yearely mes­senger sent vs to put vs in mind of that heauy losse which vpon that day for our sinnes we receaued, least wee should be puft vp with abundance of blessings.The day.

But from the moneth if wee descend a lit­tle lower to the comparison of the day, wee shall find that wee haue better reason to ob­serue ours thē they theirs though doubtlesse they obserued theirs much more solemly thē [Page 32] wee doe ours. Wee shall hardly find in ho­ly scripture the like to these daies of Purim instituted by humane authority either Eccle­siasticall or ciuill, except it were that of the dedication inioyned in their moneth Caslew (answering to our Nouember) by Iudas Mac­chabeus in memory of the restoring of the publique exercise of their religion, after the freeing of the temple from the tyranny and pollution of Antiochus his garrison; to which our Sauiour himselfe was not vnwilling to af­ford some credit & countenance by his per­sonall appearing in the temple at that feast. That it is then both lawfull and commen­dable in some cases to sett such a day a part for publique thankes-giuing and commemo­ration either of some great benefit or deliue­rance wrought, I intend not to proue, be­cause I suppose no sober minded man makes a doubt of it The saying is Cura omnium, cura nullius, that office which is giuen in charge to all, no man takes charge of, and it is as true, that such as neglect the obseruation of this day vnder a pretence of being thankfull at all times, are for the most part thankfull [Page 33] at no time. Besides it is most kindly & seaso­nable to publish opus diei in Die suo, the worke of the day vpon the day it selfe: then a mans words if ever worke a deeper impression in the hearts of the hearers, then if euer are they like apples of gold with pictures of siluer, like nailes fastned by the masters of the assembly, the very ro­bes & face of the day makes our children not capable of our prayers & preaching to en­quire into the reason of our meeting; & good reason haue wee to deliuer ouer the keeping of this day to our posterity, since in it the sonnes of Beliall thought to haue feathered vs such an arrow as should haue striken through the heart of the child yet vnborne. When your children aske you, what seruice is this you keepe, you shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lords Passouer, saith Moses Exodus 12. And when your children shall aske their fathers in time to come, what meane these stones, you shall shew your chil. dren and say Israel came ouer this Iordan on dry land saith Iosuah chapter 4 In like manner whē our children enquire what meaneth the ob­seruation of this day it will be a fitt occasion to informe them in the reason therèof, Area­son [Page 34] neuer to be forgotten, but deepely to be ingrauen in the heart of all succeeding ages as it were in a pillar of Marble or brasse with a pen of yron or the point of a diamond.

But I returne to the Comparison of our Powder day with those of Purim kept by the Iewes. Theirs had the name of Pu [...], which in the Persian language signifieth a Lott, as in Greeke it signifies fire, a name not vnfitt for our day too, Theirs was appointed by the au­thority of Mordecai and Ester, the decree forand hence wasit called▪ Mordocheus day. the perpetuall keeping of it aswell in the country as in the citty was registred in their booke of ordinances, as ours is in our booke2 Mach. 15. 36 of statutes, made and ratified by our Soue­raigne then being and the body of the three Estates assembled in Parliament; whereas though Mordecai were a greate man in the Persiā state, & Ester were Queene, yet had nei­ther of thē for ought we find Soueraigne authority ouer the Iewes which notwith­standing they duly and cheerefully obserued two whole daies as festiuall, there being but one part of a day, nor past two houres in a manner inioyned vs. They were to obserue [Page 35] theirs in a countrie where they could not but prouoke their enimies more powerfull then themselues by putting them in mind of the slaughter committed by the Iewes vpon their Countriemen and kindred vpon that day: whereas wee may (God be thanked) obserue ours not onely without feare and danger, but With much comfort & commendation: yea it is written by those who report the present estate of the Iewes, that this day is obserued a­mong them wheresoeuer they liue: so that by computation they haue kept it aboue two thousand yeares, whereas wee haue not ob­serued ours aboue twenty, & yet I know not how it comes to passe, the keeping of it is al­ready growne out of fashon, wearisome and teadious vnto vs, I know that the disciples of Rome howsoeuer they would haue high­ly applauded the plott, had it taken effect, yet now, it being of the nature of those designes, quae non laudantur nisi per acta, which are ne­uer commended till they are ended, in their hearts they wish of this day, as Job did of his birth day, that it might not be ioyned to the dayes of the yeare, nor come in to the account of the [Page 36] moneths: But the rather must we & truly may we say of it as was said of the night in which the Isralites went out of Egypt. It is a day to be kept holy to the Lord, it is that day of the Lord which all the children of England must keepe throw out their generations, as an eternall presedent of Gods watchfull eye in the preseruation of our Church and state, and an euerliuing te­stimony of the neuer dying cruelty of Iesui­ted Romish Catholiques.